Might try that later, compiling current liquorix kernel for Arch ATM (I really like Manjaro, it feels so snappy compared to LMDE, perhaps I need a fresh install to compare). Yeh, I had a panel less gnome2 for a while it wasn't to bad, I just renamed gnome-panel to gnome-panel-old.

Same here , but this spin-off has a graphical installer of sorts (and I had a spare 20gb partition). I won't say it was easy, I must of tried 3 times, eventually got there with the beta installer. It (Arch) is a bit rough around the edges, needs a decent synaptic type application (pacman-gui is crap!). Pacman itself is OK, still compiling Liquorix, I accidently cancelled it (twice). Am watching a film (Drive 2011) and to swap out of compact mode it is ctrl+c............... Never compile with guake open!

Was the issue of using the AMD zip/run file to install Catalyst/fglrx 12.10 into an LMDE environment resolved?

I am tentatively planning to purchase a "Radeon HD 7750" graphics card, and would eventually need to chose between using experimental repos to install (version 12.10), or using the zip/run file from AMD to install (version 12.10 or 12.11 beta).

Which cards are no longer supported by ATI Catalyst? The ATI Radeon 9500-9800, Xpress200-1250, 690G, 740G, X300-X2500 (including Mobility RadeonHD 2300, since it is really a DirectX 9 part). See the complete list here. If your card is on that list, you are limited to open-source drivers on Debian Squeeze/6.0 (and later). If you really need the proprietary Catalyst/fglrx driver, you will have to use Debian Lenny/5.0.x and install Catalyst 9-3.ATTENTION RADEON USERS

NOTE: If you enter your card information on AMD/ATI's driver page, it will offer you the Catalyst 9-3 driver to download. However, the Catalyst 9-3 driver doesn't support X servers past 1.5, and it will not work with Debian versions later than Lenny/5.0.x! !!!SO BE CAREFUL!!! If you tried to install Catalyst on a system with one of these cards, see the 'Removing the Driver' section to restore the default/pre-installed drivers.